Alcohol sales fall 2 percent in Finland

The retail sale of alcohol dropped 2 percent in the first part of the year, even though grocery stores had 15 more days to sell their goods.

Retail sales of alcohol decreased by 2 percent in the first six months of the year, compared with the same period in 2016 - writes yle.fi.

Statistics released on Wednesday by Valvira, the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health, show that the volume of alcohol sold by state monopoly Alko and grocery stores fell both when measured in litres and when converted into pure alcohol.

The Finnish Grocery Trade Association (FGTA), which represents stores such as Kesko, SOK and Lidl, said alcohol sales dropped even though the deregulation of opening hours gave shops 15 additional trading days during January-June.

"More and more often people buy alcohol to enjoy it with food. Instead of quantity, they invest in quality," says Kari Luoto of FGTA.

The association wants the Finnish government to deregulate the sale of alcohol to allow grocery stores to sell mild alcoholic beverages, such as wine.

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